The UConn women's basketball team will enter the 2019-20 season ranked No. 5 in the Associated Press' top-25 preseason poll, which was released Wednesday.
No. 1 Oregon, No. 2 Baylor, No. 3 Stanford, and No. 4 Maryland were ranked ahead of UConn to round out the top five. Oregon, which fell to Notre Dame in the Final Four last season, earned 25 of 28 first-place votes for the program's first-ever No. 1 ranking in the AP poll. Baylor, the 2019 national champion, earned the other three first-place votes.
UConn hadn't been ranked lower than No. 4 in the AP preseason poll since the 2006-07 season and has secured the top spot seven times in the last 12 preseason rankings. Its current ranking extends the program's streak of top 5 appearances in the AP poll to 239 consecutive weeks, extending all the way back to January 2007.
As the Huskies work to replace the production of Katie Lou Samuelson and Napheesa Collier, Geno Auriemma has tempered expectations for his team entering the season, saying last month at a charity event that the team would have to get lucky to win a national title. But Auriemma _ who has three returning starters, four newcomers (two freshmen and two transfers) and three seniors to help make up for it _ has been optimistic about the group's ability to improve significantly over the course of the season.
"When we're good, we're maybe not at the level that we've been some other times. And when we're not good, we're maybe a little bit less than where we've been some other times," Auriemma said to the media prior to First Night. "But when we're good, we're still better than most teams in the country, and that's really the only thing that matters.
"I think by the time January, February, March, when it really matters, comes around, we're going to be okay. What's okay mean? That's why everyone's going to have to buy a ticket and come and find out."
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UConn will face five opponents this season that started off the year ranked: No. 1 Oregon, No. 2 Baylor, No. 8 South Carolina, No. 16 Notre Dame, and No. 18 DePaul. USF was the only other American Athletic Conference team to receive votes, and Tennessee was ousted from the top-25 preseason poll for the first time since 1976.
The Huskies are coming off a 35-3 campaign and the program's 12th-straight Final Four bid. They opened last season at No. 2 and climbed to No. 1 for five weeks after beating top-ranked Notre Dame, but then dropped to No. 5 for one week following their second regular season loss to Louisville. UConn got its revenge against the Cardinals in the Elite Eight before falling to Notre Dame by four in the Final Four. While the final AP poll, in which UConn was ranked second, was published prior to the start of the NCAA Tournament, the team placed third in the final USA Today coaches poll, released after the conclusion of the tournament.
